A minute later, their lead stayed at nine at 17-8. Kelsey Mitchell had just knocked in two free throws and both teams were making their premier substitutions. Atlanta had missed eight shots in a row, and the arena was on edge. Fever head coach Stephanie White liked her team’s disruptiveness and ball movement.
But from that point on, her crew had a tough time. It was a one-possession game by the end of the first quarter, and the Dream led by seven at halftime. Indiana kept things close but couldn’t recapture the lead in a slower, physical game in the second half.
“I think we shot ourselves in the foot to start things. We didn’t give ourselves a chance defensively,” Mitchell said. “We shot ourselves in the foot [in] a lot in a lot of different areas that impact being able to make plays and do what [we] want to do on the offensive end.”
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The final score was 80-68 in favor of the hosts. The final 34 minutes of action favored the Dream, 72-51. They were far better than the Fever for much of the night as Indiana suffocated in an avalanche of little mistakes that amounted to a massive problem — and if they aren’t cleaned up for Game 2, the Fever’s season will end quickly.
As the visitors watched their early lead fade away, the most clear problem they were facing was fouling — and fouling often. They expected a physical series, and they were matching the Dream’s bruising play. But the whistle kept blowing.
The foul count started to mount for the Fever’s frontcourt. Aliyah Boston finished the game with five fouls while Natasha Howard had four. That, combined with the absence of Damiris Dantas (concussion), had a major impact on Indiana’s frontcourt rotation. The fouling was a small thing at first, but it ended up becoming a big thing. Indiana finished the game with 19 fouls, above their regular season average.
“The fouls,” White said of what went wrong for the Fever in their worst two quarters. “I think we get momentum and then there’s four or five foul calls in a row. They get some opportunities. I think it stopped the flow of the game. It didn’t allow us to get up and down in transition.”
Turnovers became a problem, too. A few here or there is typical for any team, and the regular season turnover figure for the Indiana Fever (12.8) ranked about average. They only finished with 12 in Game 1, which may seem acceptable on the surface.
But in the playoffs, every giveaway is magnified. And against Atlanta specifically, they are more damaging than versus a typical opponent.
That’s because the Dream are so strong on the glass and led the league in total rebound percentage this season. Their size gives them an advantage on the boards, and as a result, Atlanta typically wins the possession battle.
The Dream missed the aforementioned eight shots in a row, giving the Fever a chance to grab misses and race ahead in the rebounding battle. They did exactly that. Yet by the end of the game — one in which both teams shot under 40% — the Dream were superior on the glass by a margin of 36-32. That made every Indiana turnover all the more damaging. The possessions war tilted toward the hosts, who finished the day with seven more field goal attempts (though eight fewer shots from the foul line).
“I think the turnovers, 50-50 balls, all that kind of stuff that impacts the game in small ways… impact the game hugely,” Mitchell said.
Those were the two most obvious little things that went sideways for the Fever. They have to be cleaned up in Game 2. If the Dream — who finished the season with a higher true shooting percentage than the Fever — get additional chances to score, the Fever will be fighting an uphill battle. If Atlanta gets to slow the game down with constant whistles and trips to the foul line, Indiana’s margin for error drops.
White came up with many more little things that she felt were inadequate. Overhelping and overrotating on defense. A lack of aggression when switching. Not defending until the end of possessions, which led to breakdowns and offensive rebounds for Atlanta. All of those things can be small if they happen here or there, but in a game that was within five points to start the fourth frame, they were significant.
The Indiana Fever were poor in that final period. Irritation boiled over as they earned two technical fouls and watched Atlanta’s lead climb as high as 16. But if they nailed the little things earlier in the game, they wouldn’t have been in that situation. They would have had a chance late despite playing poorly for much of the day.
“It’s very frustrating. Very frustrating,” White said of having to use her challenges, both of which were successful, in the first half as officiating turned into serious annoyance late. “Nobody likes to use their challenges in the first half, especially when they’re successful.”
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As the series shifts to Indianapolis, the Fever have to clean up the little things if they want to push the series to a third game. They are only little things if they cause little problems.
But in Game 1, they were major concerns.
Making jump shots is a big thing, and Indiana didn’t do that. They buried just two three-point shots, which would have been a season low. Their point of attack defense, something Mitchell pointed to as an issue, was a big thing. But they could have made up for those issues if they nailed the little things.
They didn’t, and now the Fever trail 0-1 and will need Gainbridge Fieldhouse on their side.
